The Effects of Alabama Summer Weather on Foundations

This blog post was written by Affordable Foundation and Home Repair of Alabama. We are Your premiere provider of foundation repair, basement waterproofing, and home repair in the Birmingham, Hartselle, and Huntsville, AL areas. Our team is licensed and insured in Alabama and uses ECP (Earth Contact Products) to ensure that our repairs keep your home sturdy for years to come. Contact us if you are in need of remodeling or foundation repair for your Alabama home.

There have been several reports lately warning Alabama residents to expect even hotter and drier conditions this summer. While you know that the hot, dry, weather during the summertime can be dangerous for you and your family, but you may not realize that this weather also poses a danger to your home's foundation, as warm and dry conditions result in soil shrinkage.

As the temperatures rise and the ground dries out, the soil underneath your home will start to shrink. Soil shrinkage can lead to foundation movement - as the soil shrinks, it will shift and gaps may open up in the ground. If these gaps and spaces in the ground start form in the ground that supports your foundation, the concrete will start to lack the support that it needs. This will cause it to sink, shift, and even crack. Hot weather can also

If you think that the hot and dry weather could be causing foundation problems in your home, look for telltale signs. These signs include cracks in the walls or floor, settling foundation, leaning or bowing walls, sloped floors, and foundation or brick cracks.

Repair Options for Alabama Foundation Problems this Summer

If you are worried about your foundation this summer and have started to notice cracks and other signs of a foundation issue, call Affordable Foundation and Home Repair. We have the solutions that you need to fix foundation problems caused by the hot, dry summer weather in Alabama:

These are some of the services that we use to repair foundation problems in homes within our Alabama service area. We use several different kinds of ECP piers to lift sinking foundations and ensure the slab is stabilized. We also specialize in the installation of ECP helical tiebacks or plate anchors to reposition foundations that have started to shift due to soil shrinkage.

Our other services include polyjacking, concrete repair, and crack repair. We use concrete repair and crack repair to fix structural issues and cracks in your home that may have arisen due to the stress the summer weather puts on your foundation. Polyjacking (injecting a polyurethane foam under the slab) is a great solution to fill voids resulting from soil shrinkage and lift your home.

All of these solutions can help to protect your Alabama home's foundation from the negative effects of hot, dry, summer weather.

CA Drought Foundation Problems

This blog post was written by Bay Area Underpinning. We are a Vallejo-based foundation repair company that serves the Bay Area of California. We use ECP (Earth Contact Products). Our family-operated company, owned by Steve Egloff, consists of a team of a professional team of trained foundation repair experts licensed in the state of California. Bay Area Underpinning specializes in steel pier installation for the stabilization of foundations in both residential and commercial applications throughout the state of California.

Recently, the drought in California has been causing several major issues for those who live there. What residents of California may not be aware of is that the dry conditions in the state may also be the cause of serious foundation problems.

The lack of rainfall leads to a low moisture level in the soil. As the soil around your home dries out, it can start to shrink. This soil shrinkage may eventually form voids and gaps beneath your foundation, as the shrinking soil shifts and starts to fall away. Voids beneath your foundation are not good - any spaces under the concrete reduce the structural integrity of the foundation. This means that the foundation can start sinking and settling.

If you are worried about foundation sinking due to the drought in your California home, look for the following symptoms of failure: foundation cracks, cracks in the drywall or ceiling, sloped or uneven floors, bowing or leaning walls, and water leakage in home. These are all signs that your foundation could be sinking and is in need of repair from the experts at Bay Area Underpinning.

Solutions to Drought-Related Foundation Issues in California

Our foundation lifting techniques involve a variety of piering options using the high-quality steel products from ECP. Some of these solutions that we offer to lift and stabilize settling foundations include:

Resistance Piers - These piers are strong and deep-driving making them a good choice even for large buildings and heavy foundations.

Steel Push Piers -Push piers are a common foundation repair device that utilizes a two-step system to get below the active soil and stabilize homes.

Helical Piers - These piers are screwed into the ground for more stability and are ideal for applications where resistance to tension or compressive force is needed.

Slab Piers - Used mechanically or hydraulically and are an economical choice for homeowners with sinking slab foundations.

All of these repair options from ECP help to stabilize your foundation and prevent the drought from causing foundation failure in the future. If you have a sinking foundation in California due to the drought, underpinning with ECP products can help.

Pier and Beam Foundation Repair

If you have pier or beam issues in your home, it could mean that you are having foundation problems and the foundation is not doing the job that it is supposed to do which is to support the weight evenly to the beams and piers. There are several signs that you may be having a foundation that has settled or is unlevel. Some of the signs that you may be having a foundation problem are:

Sloping floors

Leaning chimney

Doors and windows that stick

Floor cracks

Wall cracks

Ceiling cracks

Shimming between piers and beams

Bowing walls

Failing foundations are usually caused by the soil beneath the foundation. If the soil was not compacted properly during the building of the home, this will cause the soil to be loose and move beneath the foundation. Also if the soil is expansive soil which means that it will heave when wet and shirink when dry, this constant movement of the soil will cause the foundation to move and shift. The shifting soil will also cause voids beneath the foundation causing the foundation to sink into the voids.

If you see any signs that indicate that you may have a foundation problem, it is important to have an experienced foundation repair contractors come and inspect your foundation. My Foundation Repairs has specialized contractors that can come and inspect your home and offer you the foundation repair solutions that you may need. These contractors use only the best foundation repair products on the market today. They are manufactured by Earth Contact Products (ECP), the very best in underpinning products in the industry.

Foundation Repair Solutions

My Foundadtion Repairs contractors can lift and stabilize your foundation using underpinning products such as steel piers and helical piers. These piers are driven deep into the ground through the unstable soil until they reach a more solid soil layer.

ECP steel push piers are sometimes referrs to as micro piles or resistance piers. The patentented ECP steel piers are the standard for all piering method for foundation repair and are the choice for the contractors at My Foundation Repairs.

ECP helical piers look like large screws that are individually installed into the ground and then load tested. After load testing the entire weight of the structure is lifted onto the piers to level and stabilize the structure. These ECP helical piers have many advantages such as:

Little to no vibration

Can be installed in any weather conditions

Immediately load transfer after installation

Installs below active soils

Easily load tested to verify capacity

If you are in need of pier and beam foundation repair, let the professionals at My Foundation Repairs offer you the ost effective repair solutions for your needs. When you contact us, we will send the most qualified contractor to help you with your repair needs. Contact My Foundation Repairs today.